Species Profile: Black rhino

By Molly Estabrook (University of Vermont ’15)

In just over a week we have been very lucky so far in spotting six Black Rhinos on game counts and point counts! One of which was particularly exciting because the Rhino decided to charge in the direction of the game truck. Additionally, three different Black Rhinos appeared on our camera trap photos including one sub adult at two of our three camera locations in just under six days of being set. These sightings are very exciting not only because it’s the first time any of us have seen Rhino’s in the wild but because Black Rhinos are currently one of Namibia’s most endangered species so spotting this many in just a week is a great sign!

The photo below is of an engraving display at Twyfelfontein that shows the differences between the black rhino and the white rhino. The rhino to the left is the white rhino and the drawing to the right is of the black rhino. The white rhino has a wider jaw structure and the black rhino has a thinner more pointy face. Another way to remember that the white rhino has a wider jaw is that the “white” in rhino was a mistranslation for “wide.” A second fun fact about rhinos is that the black rhino calves follow their mothers and white rhino calves lead in front of their mothers.

The above photo is of a sub-adult rhino, captured on one of our camera-traps.